Manage Passwords in the Cloud Across Platforms and Devices

Like most web workers, I have a bazillion on-line passwords to manage. Alright, perhaps that’s a mild exaggeration, but let’s just say that my number of passwords rivals the number of appearances Mario has in his various Nintendo games.

Of course, there’s a number of solid password managers out there: 1Password, RoboForm and many others come to mind. Problem solved, right? Not so fast my current-day cryptologists. We’re web workers and by definition we should generally be able to work on any computer we have.

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That’s where the challenge lies for me personally as I’m constantly cycling through various computers for my web work. As I look around the home office right now, I count no less than half-a-dozen PCs and Macs.

Before you incur the wrath of the “Why do you need so many computers?” comment: my full-time gig has me reviewing various devices of all shapes, sizes and operating systems. To do that effectively from a mainstream consumer point-of-view, I ensure that I can work from all of them. Just not at the same time.

See the problem, now?

Thanks to Jason Clarke, I read that Joel Spolsky has a solution that’s right up my alley, and anyone else’s if they use several devices on multiple platforms. Joel takes advantage of Dropbox, currently one of my favorite cloud synchronization services. Aside from it’s sheer simplicity, I was drawn to Dropbox for its cross-platform support. Macs and PCs were supported from the get-go and last month saw the release of a Dropbox Linux client. So now we have the “glue” to manage passwords across devices and platforms.

What can we glue together in the cloud to manage those passwords then? Joel figured out that Password Safe in Windows and Password Gorilla (shown) on Mac and Linux share a common file format. Using those tools on their respective platforms produces a password file usable by both, so synching that file with an automated service like Dropbox does the trick! You simply keep the password file in your Dropbox or an appropriately named sub-folder. If you want to take a more spartan approach, you could even use a simple text file on all three platforms and use the same “glue” since Dropbox supports any file format and encrypts all files.

Obviously if you’re a Firefox user and you don’t mind using the beta Password Synchronization feature of Foxmarks or the prototype version of Mozilla’s Weave project, you have other solutions. However, I find that as a web worker, one of the first tasks I perform on a new device is to get my file synchronization framework in place for maximum flexibility. If I’m going to do that anyway, I figure I might as well leverage that framework for my credentials. Fans of Password Gorilla likely know that you can simply use that app across Mac, Linux and Windows if passwords in the clouds aren’t your thing.

As Leandro I am a user of KeePass and I use it at work on a PC and at home on my Mac. Passwords are synced through Dropbox. Works like a charm. I even wrote a post about it. Soon after that I read Joels post. Still think that Keepass looks way better but it does indicate that more and more people are relying on the cloud for synchronising their data.
The new style of applications like Evernote seem to understand this principle very good.

I use Dropbox with KeePass Password Safe (on Windows) and KeePassX (on Mac/Linux) and it works like a charm.
I like KeePass over Password Safe because it design and the ability of use an external pendrive as hardware key with your master password.

Good comments and I agree, there are a number of web-based password management services out there, some of which offer companion desktop clients as well. My intention wasn’t to say that the above method is the best one; that’s a personal choice of course and there are many great options. I’m a fan and user of 1Password, but I’ll certainly take a look at some of the other suggestions mentioned; thanks!

Hi Kevin. Full disclosure here: I work for http://www.nomadesk.com, which offers small businesses (or nomadic professionals, as we like to call ourselves) an innovative way to share documents and work together on a “virtual fileserver.” I read your post on Dropbox and how you use it to synchronize passwords, with great interest.
I just wanted to add NomaDesk to the mix, because it comes with security features specifically geared towards the digital nomad, such as local encryption and “remote shredding” with TheftGuard. That means that your password file will actually be encrypted on each of your PCs. You only need to remember the NomaDesk password to unlock the virtual fileserver. In the event that one of your PCs gets stolen you can shred it remotely.
Anyway, I would appreciate your review â€“ in due time.